Being the amazing, true-to-life adventures and (very likely) misadventures of a writer who seeks to take his education, activism and seemingly boundless energy to North Minneapolis, (NoMi) to help with a process of turning a rapidly revitalizing neighborhood into something approaching Urban Utopia. I am here to be near my child. From 02/08 to 06/15 this blog pushed free speech to the envelope, so others could take heart and speak unafraid. Email me at hoffjohnw@gmail.com

Monday, December 21, 2009

JNS BLOG EDITORIAL: Something Smells Rotten In Koenig-Land...

Gingerbread House Image From Michelle Koenig "Majestic Farm" Blog, Which Is Public, Click here to go to original image, image is reproduced for First Amendment purposes of criticism and commentary

In my opinion, and I'm entitled to one, Paul Koenig should be in jail for what he has done to North Minneapolis with his slummy Pamiko Properties fiasco, extensively documented on this blog and--back channel information has it--increasingly on the radar of public officials. (I will write about that if and when I can) The degree of involvement of Paul's wife, Michelle, is unknown, so I'm not sure whether (in my opinion) SHE should be in jail, but based on information available from her extensive "majestic farm" blog posts, click here, it appears she is enjoying a lifestyle derived--at least in part--from Paul Koenig's extensive and ongoing victimization of North Minneapolis through slumlord activities.

I would STRONGLY SUGGEST readers click on this link and check out Michelle Koenig's blog posts NOW, before the blog and the information it contains disappears. Hopefully, the person(s) asked to make screen shots of the information are hard at work, because it is not the nature of this blog to sit on information and play back room policy wonk. Information wants to be free. Fly, information about the Koenigs, you're free, you're free!

At this point, it might be good to review how this Pamiko story emerged and evolved...
It all started with Hawthorne Housing Board Member Michael Klick, though this information might surprise Michael. See, Michael was compiling a list of properties in Hawthorne which it might be good for the city to acquire for demolition and/or rehab, but probably demolition. We were particularly interested in clusters of bad properties, since our experience tells us that revitalization in clusters has a bigger impact than a house here, a house there. Michael had a pretty good list of houses in his own Hawthorne Neighborhood quadrant, but the Housing Committee agreed a more extensive list should be compiled and turned over to CPED for consideration.

In the course of compiling this list, Hawthorne Housing Director Jeff Skrenes discovered a foreclosure with a shockingly large value attached, the "slumdog millionaire" house on Bryant Ave. N.

So picture this, gentle reader. Jeff calls me up--I'm on the road driving, as usual, and I remember I was on a break at a Flying J truck stop with an extensive collection of trucker cuisine, which has been evolving and getting dinosaur-large in proportion while nobody was looking. I distinctly remember sitting in the dark cab of my vehicle munching on a Polish sausage shish kabob--with green pepper and onion--while Jeff was telling me about this very odd foreclosure with the large amount of money associated with it. Jeff thought it was quite notable, and maybe even the tip of some kind of ice berg of mortgage irregularity, but at this point ALL JEFF HAD was the "slumdog millionaire" house information.

Jeff didn't think the info he'd developed was very extensive. He thought maybe the info should be developed more but, geez, how should one go about it? And--between bites of Polish sausage shish kabob--I told Jeff about All The President's Men, a book every aspiring student in journalism school gets around to reading for class at least ONCE. I told Jeff how the entire Watergate story started out as a small item about a rather odd burglary with some interesting characters involved. Nobody knew where the story would go at the time, but the Washington Post operated on a principal of "publish what we've got." And the story went somewhere. It went all kinds of places. The rest is history.

Now it appears that some public officials and journalists are interested. In fact, it was word that a particular large media entity had been making pointed inquiries which spurred this blog post. I am working under the assumption the Koenigs are aware of what is being written here, so there's no point in pretending NoMi neighborhood activists are not reading their "majestic farm" blog and finding out about their (expletive) horsey hobby, supported on the bleeding back of our neighborhood.

According to a neighborhood source, Paul Koenig was involved in the "dream homes" fiasco which involved putting up prefabricated slabs of solidified crap and calling them a home. The dream homes fiasco is not extensively documented, and hopefully this blog can change that in the future--photo tour, Hawkman?--but here is some information I found making mention of it, click here.

My opinion: Paul Koenig needs to be in jail. I only hope public officials act quickly before evidence of criminal wrongdoing (if, indeed, there was any) is destroyed and authorities are looking for him in (expletive) Belize. (A hypothetical (expletive) example)

Paul Koenig--you predatory scum--if you want to answer for yourself, there is a comments thread below. If you see protestors on the sidewalk in front of your oh-so-nice home, don't bother calling the police--we will have already contacted them beforehand.

56 comments:

MeganG.
said...

I have the physical address of the "Majestic Farm" ( for demonstration/protest purposes) but since it appears to be quite rural and SECLUDED - for full effect it might not be the best place to gather and demonstrate.

So I'm thinking of a demonstration outside their church. You know, across the street on public property, during all of the services. Best that the whole Washington County Community knows the impact these folks are having on our comminity. Or perhaps outside Canterbury Racepark, on a busy day. We'll see what develops, but there WILL be a demonstration, that I am sure.

Please help me understand how Paul Koenig was able to acquire so many properties, including his personal property at 1775 Majestic Pines Trail in Afton, a 2004 Volvo XC90, 2002 Volvo S80, all after his bankruptcy in early 2001. Wouldn’t lenders be a little more cautious? Why does his bankruptcy filing have a Mail Boxes, Etc. location as his address, the same address that MLM Properties, LLC used?

How is Paul listed as an employee of MLM Properties, LLC for seven years while filing for bankruptcy, yet MLM Properties, LLC wasn’t filed with the Minnesota Secretary of State until over a month AFTER his bankruptcy filing?

Also, come on, Paul. Your name is Paul Mark Koenig and your wife’s name is Michelle Lee Koenig (formerly Michelle Milbrandt if you’re keeping up with the court records). It’s so secret that MarkLee Construction, LLC is your company, especially when it shares an address with Pamiko Properties, LLC — 8362 Tamarack Village #119-207 in St. Paul.

So it's looking like MarkLee Construction is named for the two Koenig's middle names: Mark and Lee - and word is MarkLee Construction LLC has been involved in a few lawsuits or atleast housing actions.

Can some of our legal beagles out there find out more about the MarkLee Construction lawsuits and/or housing actions?

Well I am glad that my work on the housing committee can lead to an investigation of this guy and all his property.

I never started compiling the list with the intention of finding patterns with property owners, but it soon became apparent that a relatively few property owners were making our life a living nightmare in Quad 2 in Hawthorne.

I am not oppossed to people buying properties to rent out for profit. What I am oppossed to is when their get rich quick schemes make our lives miserable.

DPK Properties, LLC, or Dream Home Development, LLC, or Koko Property Management LLC have the address of 1359 Park Road in Chanhassen (one filing has the address of 80 S 8th St 4555 IDS Center), and there are other filings with the Secretary of State under that address. DPK/Dream Home/Koko is listed as a codefendant in a lawsuit filed by Franklin National Bank, which also lists David J. Kohlenberger as having a judgment against him. Paul and Michelle Koenig also sued David and Sharon Kohlenberger and it went to federal court.

MarkLee Construction, LLC jointly filed as plaintiff with Pamiko Properties, LLC against several defendants in 2007. Those defendants for the most part have zip codes of 55418, 55411, 55412. I'd like to know what's going on there (trip to the Court Vault, anyone?). US Federal Credit Union also sued several defendants, including Edina Realty, Paul Koenig and MarkLee Construction, LLC in 2006. Franklin National Bank sued Paul Koenig and David Kohlenberger, a title and closing company, DPK Properties, LLC, Koko Property Management, LLC and Dream Home Development, LLC.

Pamiko Properties, LLC has an active, unsatisfied judgment for $67,568.47 to Floor Technologies Inc. from June 2009. Paul Koenig individually has a judgment that was discharged in bankruptcy for $7,607.35 to Summerfield Townhouses Homeowners, and another pre-bankruptcy judgment for $4,414.81 to Denny B. Ramsdell.

Wallboard Inc. and United Products Corporation of America Inc both filed separate mechanic's lien against Aspen Funding, LLC, Cemstone Products, Paul Koenig, Minnwest Bank Metro and Pamiko Properties LLC in August 2009 and May 2009, respectively, and a court trial isn't set until September 2010. Aspen Funding, LLC is at 1756 Berkeley Avenue in St. Paul and filed with the Minnesota Secretary of State on 9/17/2008. That address is part of Macalester Villas, a residential property with taxpayers David W. Lundy, Jr. and Ann M. Sadowski. Someone should order the LLC filing from the Secretary of State! More cases filed by KB Mechanical Inc also include "ABC Corporation" as a defendant.

I recently discovered that a property that was down the street from me in the Central Neighborhood was also one of the Pamiko properties. That house became the constant bane of my existance as the occupants were involved (or harboring those involved) in local drug and prostitution trades. One character in particular would keep me up at night as she would loudly be yelling obscenities down the street into the late hours of the night. Enough of the neighbors filed impact statements against this property that it eventually became targeted by the city as a problem property. The work performed on the property was of minimal (and cheapest) quality, they obviously were not selective in screening their tenants, there was constant garbage in the yard, no landscaping or attention to aesthetics of the property whatsoever - in every respect I can think of, the management of this property embodied irresponsibility and screamed of slum lord!

Another really nice thing about this whole discussion on this blog is from now on if anyone ever enters the name "Paul Koenig" in a Google search, all this will pop up. It's here forever and ever and ever.

MeganG, What's their connection to Canterbury? Did they have horses on their "Majestic Farm?." In general though, no matter how slummy this guy or his wife is, personally I'd draw the line at leaving angry comments on a mommy blog. Then again, if I were a slumlord,especially one of that magnitude I'd think twice about posting lots of pics of my kids and house on a public blog. This isn't 1995.

If it were me and I were a neighborhood organization in NOMI, I would find a way to earmark the funds necessary to have an FTE interfacing with the appropriate City Departments to mitigate the damages caused by hooligans like this as much as possible BEFORE the problem reached this point.

A very detailed approach to enfocing the existing code enforcement needs to be implemented by a neighborhood organization and there needs to be an understanding up-front that the "squeaky wheel gets the grease" will apply.

Keep in mind, the City to a degree, has a conflicted interest in the matter. They WANT the properties to remain rented, as it provides a revenue stream through property taxes and utilities.

As such, it will take a real "visionary" neighborhood to get the City to understand the value in investing in the future of NOMI.

It must also be understood that this is NOT a gentrification program. In fact, it is a demand that EVERYONE living in the City subjected to the SAME code enforcement of the existing code.

If a neighbor by Lake Calhoun were to complain about an obvious code infraction it WOULD be dealt with in a timely manner. NOMI shold enjoy the SAME timely response. ANYTHING LESS is actually the real sign of gentrification.

As to the 'farm,' the Minnesota Secretary of State has the business address of "MAJESTIC FARMS LLC" as 1775 Majestic Pines Trail, Afton, MN 55001. This was filed 6/27/2006, and the address is known to be Paul and Michelle Koenig's residence and apparently place of business. There's another filing for "Magestic Farms, LLC" but it's in North Branch.

I agree that government action is needed to put an end to this debacle. It is a wonder that the city, county, state or federal county attorneys are not already pursuing this.

These types of rental property's neither add to the revenue stream nor maintain property taxes. The utility companies will be the first to sight foreclosed homes as a major loss of revenue. The impact of a loss of stabilization in the community increases costs for law enforcement and city services.

I know that a number of public officials read this blog and I certainly hope that we have hired individuals who will take action on their own accord rather than being pushed to react by growing public outcry.

Any government official who thinks that what has been going on in North Minneapolis is of benefit to our community should be thrown out of office.

Regarding the comment that indicated former Pamiko properties do not end up in good hands even after Pamiko ownership - THAT is the long term damage that these slum lords do to properties when they remove all of the original architectural features and replace them with cheap. vinyl, crap, Often the materials used for the siding are not even matching (or just as plain, cheap, and fugly as vinyl can possibly be) and the window openings become out balance or proportion with the aesthetic of the property. Original features desired by home buyers are either trashed into a dumpster or sold for their salvage value. This leaves the property in a state that is not desirable to owner occupant home buyers and relegates the property to an onging, downhill slide of successive slum lord ownership.

In regard to the stables...there seems to be a difference in the addresses. If something is located on Majestic Farms Trail, I can see where two things may be called "Majestic Farms" yet be unrelated except by proximity.

Until I see proof the stables is directly connected with the Koenigs, better to assume otherwise. But, well, let's all keep looking for info and connections. This blog post is an amazing example of what empowered JNS readers can dig up and publicize. LET'S KEEP DIGGING.

And, of course, I am waiting and hoping for definitive word about police and public officials getting involved. In the meantime, the Koenig blog has been set to "private" but all the information was successfully captured.

I'm not an attorney, although I like to pretend I'm one. I don't know that there is a right to not live in a ghetto, and if there was, Koenig would just say that to pinpoint him as the epi-center of ghetto-ness in NoMi is historically inaccurate.

I suppose if neighbors wanted to sue, they could claim diminution of property values and infringement of their right to quiet enjoyment of their properties as a result of his busienss practices, although, NoMi being what it is, it would be hard to prove up.

If it was me, and crazy Aunt Mabel left me a fortune, I would also name the City as a defendant for its lack of equal protection under the law for failing to maintain consistent housing standards througout the city, resulting in diminution of value and interference with quiet enjoyment of my property. I'd probably lose since the city is constitutionally protected from being sued in many instances, but I'd get in the papers and have some fun.

When I was done with that, I would raze my house to the ground, plant pansies on the lot, and move next door to Paul Koenig and his PUUURRRTY HORSEEEEYS. And feed the PUUURRRTY HORSEEEEYS laxatives.

The laxative remark is obvious an obvious parody remark, it seems to me.

Well, I heard there was a civil rights ordinance in Minneapolis which had something to do with deliberately creating slum conditions through business practices, and that the ordinance was--so far--untested in the courts. That's what I heard. I make a point of saying this is rumor, not fact I've confirmed.

Being tied up with other matters at this moment, if anybody cares to dig into that lead, feel free to do so and post what you know.

@JNS 11:07: over the years, i have heard the statement repeated that our former council member (NJL) had told city inspectors not to enforce code violations on the northside. i'm not sure what the original source of this statement is, or whether or not it's publicly documented.

if there's any kernel of truth to this rumor, i find it shocking that city employees would bend to this demand, even if it is what the city council member wanted. of course we have a great council member fighting for our neighborhood now, but the idea that equal enforcement of the law might be such a tenuous privilege, and so dependent on the whims of political actors is incredibly disturbing. it's one thing to have elected officials fighting for the interests of their constituents, but shouldn't the rule of law trump this kind of political pressure? should we really be dependent on having excellent representation just to get equal treatment from city staff?

You people should all be ashamed of yourselves. Do you seriously have nothing better to do than stalk some family? Get off your asses and go make your own money, instead of whining about someone else's.

@Anon 4:26: just because YOU would be pleased as punch to have exploding houses, crack dens, and brothels next door to YOUR house doesn't mean you should go around telling other people that we have a duty to accept these things quietly. maybe you can pass that message along to your friends the petters, er, i mean koenigs.

RIGHT ON, Anon @6:24! I can't believe the NERVE of these smug, judgmental @$$holes! How dare they!

Listen up, "slummies", if you don't like your impoverished, crime-riddled scumhole, why don't you get off your lazy butts and do something about it?

No, not by volunteering with the community organizations and non-profits or petitioning the city to enforce its standards here like it does everywhere else.

And certainly NOT by confronting criminal, unethical or simply indecent behavior that would never be tolerated elsewhere.

No, the answer is to MAKE some money and then MOVE to a decent suburb.

Because it's all about money, isn't it? It's the amount of money in your bank account that determines how you should be treated, right? You don't make enough, so don't go blaming the Koenigs and their racehorse when their indecent business model shits all over your neighborhood.

@Anon 6:24PM: Where anyone lives is not always representative of their income. Without acknowledging if the areas we live in are slums or not -- and in my opinion, any neighborhood with a Pamiko property is on that path -- we're the ones working to better a community. Removing blight and building homeownership doesn't just help a home, block, neighborhood or city, it helps the entire state and the state of the economy. North Minneapolis has great history that the suburbs don't have, and to that end, those "pretty boxes on the hillside" (Weeds reference) are seen as manufactured happiness with no community to many Minneapolitans. But again, it has nothing to do with income.

If someone doesn't stand up, seek and cause change, nothing would get done in society. We're the empowered and we're the empowering ones.

Every time I talk to bankers about NoMi, I tell them we need more homeowners and we need their underwriters to better understand our community. Even the good banks just aren't doing enough to get good loans to good people in our neighborhoods.

Yet whenever I finish that little rant, I also tell them, "Don't come to my neighborhood with business plans that will fail. It doesn't do you any good and it furthers the misperception that my neighborhood isn't financially attractive." And, "I WANT you to come to my neighborhood, do the right thing, and get VERY RICH doing so."

The Koenigs, as we're finding out, got very rich by (or at least while) repeatedly failing at various housing ventures in my neighborhood. That is NOT acceptable. Anyone who comes to neighborhood organization meetings will find residents are quite welcoming towards both new owner-occupants AND new landlords. We want to work with everyone to create a vibrant community.

But when you damage that community on a historic scale, we WILL hold you accountable.

I wondered how long it would be before someone would comment on how awful NoMi residents are for talking about this. Now let's see how long it takes for someone to comment on how wonderful the Koenigs are and how this really isn't their fault. They are just trying to run a business! Ugh! How many times do we have to see this same scenario.

This is our neighborhood. Most of us don't want to leave. We want the carpetbagging developers to leave.

This used to be a vibrant neighborhood, what the hell have you done to it? What makes you think you have the right to use this neighborhood? How do you sleep at night?

If the rental property you put up in my neighborhood would not be tolerated in your neighborhood then you know you're doing the wrong thing. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Even you should be able to put those ideas together.

If one of us would want to leave though, I can't sell a house surrounded by the kind of devastation that developers have left in our community.

Your predatory activities in this neighborhood have affected our lives, our housing stock, our finances and you want to escape notice or criticism. I suspect this is just the beginning of ourcareful look at your activities and business practices. Brace yourselves!

Regarding the JNS comment that he thought there was a Minneapolis code section that called out as a discriminatory act creating slum conditions, I spent about an hour skimming the Minneapolis Code of Ordinances, Title 7 (Civil Rights), Title 8 (Consumer Protection), and Title 12 (Housing). I did not find an ordinance section such as you described. I may have missed it. Perhaps what you described is not yet in effect and so not yet promulgated?

Curfew Times

Who Is "Drunk Ronnie Ward And His Brother?" Who Are Tracy Crawford And L Jones?

Who is "drunk Ronnie Ward and his bro?" Were they involved in the shooting of little Terrell Mayes, Jr?

If you left this blog the following comment on August 8, 2012, more information is needed.

Anonymous said...re terrel mayes 22 cal n mpls accidentl murder.drunk ronnie ward and bro? talking wanna kill tom weist n b amy fo? later saying we were just looking for tracy crawford n L jones and argue who fired the 22 gun when one of them hit the house ,your shot did no your shot his shot must of i pointed a diff way ect.ronnie ward fired the shot or was present at the shooting scene .n give 1/2 reward money to pastor paul please rip n peace terrel mayes

The police have not been able to find the killer based on your information. They have looked into it. Please, more information is needed. I understand you want "Pastor Paul" to get half the reward money. Who is Pastor Paul?

Help JNS Blog Patrol For Violations Of The Level Three Sex Offender "Zip Code Moratorium"

Hennepin County has drawn a line in the sand and said no more supervised more Level Three Sex Offenders will be dumped by MN DOC in the 55411 and 55412 zip codes. North Minneapolis residents are watching for violations of this unilateral cease fire agreement. Here's how YOU can be involved in checking to make sure MN DOC doesn't violate our rights by dumping more than the allotted number of rabid dogs in our neighborhood. Click the link below.

7.) Lloyd, also spelled Loyd. (Click here for possible example) These spelling variations may, in fact, be two different crime families. JNS blog is still looking into that.

8.) Ferguson, including descendants of James Leon Ferguson such as "Jdawg" Ferguson) This family is linked to relatives with surname Slaughter, McCaskel, and Slaughter-McCaskel. The name may be spelled "McCaskill" sometimes.